Zero-search, zero-memory vector quantization

Abstract

The invention comprises a method for lossy data compression, akin to vector quantization, in which there is no explicit codebook and no search, i.e. the codebook memory and associated search computation are eliminated. Some memory and computation are still required, but these are dramatically reduced, compared to systems that do not exploit this method. For this reason, both the memory and computation requirements of the method are exponentially smaller than comparable methods that do not exploit the invention. Because there is no explicit codebook to be stored or searched, no such codebook need be generated either. This makes the method well suited to adaptive coding schemes, where the compression system adapts to the statistics of the data presented for processing: both the complexity of the algorithm executed for adaptation, and the amount of data transmitted to synchronize the sender and receiver, are exponentially smaller than comparable existing methods.